Young adults feel empowered by debt

This just goes to show how schools are perpetuating stupidity.   Dummying down the American youth will allow the Gov't to put more controls on people.    To think debt is good has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

One doesn't need more research to know the effects on our citizens.   They just need to think about the rule of 72 and start crying.

Well I don't know who these test subject were that Ohio State found or dug up this survey group but this is certainly not the case with college graduates I have spoken with.  The half dozen or so I have spoken with feel they have been misled by promises of grandeur that a college degree or higher would provide them. They have merely found themselves strapped with mountains of federal debt and then to leave college and not find employment in their new found area of expertise.  I had a biology major wait on me at Longhorn Steakhouse 3 weeks ago and last night a young lady who had finished her state boards with a Master's in Architecture has been unemployed and now owes over $175,000.00 to the good ole US taxpayer because of false promises she was sucked in to.  I asked her where she has looked for employment and her response, four different states!  She said she no longer listens to the commercials that tout  bull  that "Your future is what you make of it".  She cried. 

 I felt like a heal and didn't have the heart to tell her that I too have been unemployed now for about 3 years and at age 52 have pretty well resigned myself to the notion that this is the way of the future.  I only have a BS in management. In my day that was enough to get you in and protected.  Today it is equal to a GED or less.  The world and especially America sells a distorted story of what a young person can and should expect out of life and hard work.  These "be all you can be", commercials funded by the government and so-called higher educational venues are as misleading as any weight loss infomercial.  Even our own military personnel that have been showered with special and upgraded benefits, from my time in service, will too begin to experience the perils of a tightening US military budget soon.  Word of warning to them, if you are spending every dime of each paycheck on tattoos and motorcycles and fun, you'd better pay attention to what is going on around you and start paying down debt and start saving your money.  In the 1970's and 80's people in the military were being forced out with early retirement after only 16 years and so on.  This will soon happen once again once America realizes that the threat of the outsiders is nominal and can be managed with a smaller fighting force and more technical than human assets.  You have been warned!   

I don't think young people enjoy debt because of what it can buy, but because it's an "adult" thing to have.  It makes them feel grown up, like their parents.  It's the same reason youngsters start smoking, drinking, or drugs; it makes them feel important, cool, strong.

What can I say?  Everyone over 30 knows kids are morons.

I actually just made a hotmail account so that I can respond to this article. This is the most ridiculous, infuriating thing I've heard in awhile. I graduated with my Bachelors degree in May of 2009 and STILL have not found a full-time, permanent "professional" job. And trust me, it is not from lack of trying. I have supported myself since I was 16, pay for every single one of my own bills, including my +30k in student loans. The fact that I was told my entire life to go to college to better myself, make a better life for myself, and have access to a great career choices... when in reality all I got was a load of debt and stressful calls from creditors really, reallllyyyyy makes me angry.

And every single one of my friends is going through the same thing. Boy, do I feel empowered.

The study found that the more debt these young respondents carried, the higher their self-esteem became and the more they felt in control of their lives.

Kids know *ick.

I think your results and/or questions are flawed. I borrowed about  $40k for school (BS and MS), which I paid off within 6 years after finishing. Even though I was lucky enough to get a job in the southeast US making $70k in my field, I was still very stressed by the loan payments. It was most definitely not a self-esteem builder.  

These classes that teach kids about repaying loans should also include a realistic look at what they can expect to make in their field, and balancing their loan payments with all the other everyday expenses.  

Just like the "$5/gas is good" story that pops up here occasionally, this one is equally absurd.